I have to celebrate you baby

Love. It’s an interesting one, isn’t it? There’s no recipe for success, no right or wrong, and there is definitely no way to know what goes on between two people within a relationship. I’m in a pretty unconventional relationship myself and am constantly asked “But how do you make it work?!”

You see, my boyfriend lives in Brisbane and I’m currently located in Sydney. Hurrah for long distance. I’ve heard stories time and time again from people who have tried to make long distance work, only to have their relationship crumble down around them in a heap of frustration, secrets, miscommunication and distrust. 

What always amazes me is how people seem shocked that N and I have managed to stay strong although we’ve been living in different states for over a year and a half now. To me, it’s natural. Our philosophy and what we’ve always said about our long distance relationship is that we’d prefer to see each other every second weekend rather than not at all.  Seems pretty simple, right?

I’m not saying it’s easy, nor ideal. Not at all. Anyone who has ever been in a long distance relationship would know that it takes work. There are those days where the only thing you want in the entire world is a hug from your other half, but that can’t happen. There are those conversations over the phone that leave you feeling like crap and the only thing that’ll fix that feeling is seeing the other person. I could list a thousand drawbacks of a long distance relationship, but I think you get the idea. 

As for our recipe for success? It’s pretty straightforward:

• Be friends. Best friends.
• COMMUNICATE. Seriously, it seems obvious but so many couples just TALK but don’t actually connect. Set aside 45 minutes every single day for a phone call/Skype to ensure you stick to this.
• Be open and honest with each other
• Do new things together.
• Have a plan so that you don’t end up doing long distance forever.

I’m lucky in the fact that N is pretty brilliant at all of the above. It’s rare to find a man who is happy to sit on the phone to close for an hour each night, but we’ve never gone a day without speaking. We’re lucky that we both like doing new things and exploring together and we’re lucky that we’ve got a plan for the future together.